KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): Pakatan Harapan (PH) has rejected an academic's claim that the restructuring of government-linked companies (GLCs) by the current administration served to boost Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's portfolio as well his party, Bersatu.
"The statement made by a well-known person at a think tank that there was a supposed restructuring of GLCs to strengthen the office of the prime minister and Bersatu is clearly misleading," the PH Secretariat said in a statement today.
Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) senior fellow Dr Edmund Terence Gomez said last week that Dr Mahathir remains as "de facto finance minister" despite not officially holding the portfolio, as he has consolidated control over key statutory bodies and ministries.
Citing a study by IDEAS, Gomez — who is also Dean of the Economics and Administration Faculty at University of Malaya — said Dr Mahathir had moved control of Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) to the Prime Minister's Department (PMD) from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) previously, despite being prohibited from holding the finance minister's portfolio after the 14th general election last year.
According to the PH Secretariat, the restructuring of GLCs that took place after the election involved all agencies, cutting across all ministries.
Acknowledging that Khazanah had been moved to PMD from MoF, PH pointed out that MoF Inc is still the largest shareholder of the sovereign wealth fund.
As for PNB, PH pointed out that the fund had been placed under the PMD prior to 2018.
In the same vein, PH said the Public Private Partnership Unit (UKAS) alongside several economic corridor agencies have been moved to the MoF and the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) from PMD.
PH clarified that the establishment of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) was done with the intent of taking over functions relating to economic matters, primarily from the Economic Planning Unit, which was placed under the PMD during the previous BN administration.
"The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) that was previously placed under the PMD is now under the MEA in order to reduce the size of the PMD, while separating several economic and financial functions from the PMD," it added.
PH said the government currently has a stable of 56 government agencies and departments, from 92 in the previous administration.
The statement also highlighted that the government has established the Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre to ensure GLCs and government-linked investment companies are more transparent and responsible.
In addition the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2019-2023 has outlined 22 strategies and 115 initiatives that include more efficient administration and integrity boosting measures for GLCs, it noted.